Computer hangs and freezes and even bluescreens...?

[ToddeSwe]

Hi!

I'm trying to find the problem with my old K9N Neo mobo 2 gb mem and a new gfx card GeForce GS 210.
It works fine inside windows 7 but when i start a game like CS or Call of Duty it hangs and freezes up on me, even got a couple of bluescreens.
Don't ask me what the bluescreens says (it's my sons computer and he restarts VERY fast).

A friend told me he think it's the memory on my mobo... is it true? Or what can i do to get to the bottom with this and replace the right hardware?
The new gfx card has PhysX and when i told the settings to use the Graphic Card it did get a bit better but not all the way...

Please help me to get him of my back!!

The computer:

Win 7 X64
Powerunit: 360 Watt
Gfx card: Gainward GeForce 210 GS 1 GB mem.
Installed memory on mobo: 2 GB DDR2 mem.

ToddeSwe

 

[xx12amanxx]

When you start the game does it freeze up immediately or does it take a few minutes to crash? Open the case and see if your CPU heatsink is clogged with dust if it is clean everything out with compressed air or dust-off.

If that checks out look at your power supply how old is it? Is it dirty they need to be cleaned once in a while as well. If its an old one it could be on its way out.

I do not think its your memory or the computer would not load windows.

Let me know.

 

[Griffolion]

Sounds like a RAM problem, i had a similar thing a while back.

 

[xx12amanxx]

You running dual channel? If so might as well remove one dimm to see if the problem goes away.

 

[Onus]

Considering its age, the mobo (especially since it is MSI) may have the bad capacitor problem that plagued a number of systems just a few years ago. Google "bad capacitors" for images of what they'll look like, leaking or popped. Poor filtering of such failed components would show up most quickly under heavy load, like a game.

 

[ToddeSwe]

Hi and thanks all of you!

I took a photo of what i beleave it is called the heatsink : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5927547/Heatsink.JPG
It does not look very good?! SO i'm going to order some of this as see if it helps.

Thanks very much! I'll be back when i have tried this!

ToddeSwe

 

[Griffolion]

Yeah that's the CPU heatsink, don't reapply that now that you've removed it, you'll need to clean both the top of the CPU and the heatsink of the old thermal paste with 99.7% ethanol and apply a fresh batch to it.

And yes, it is looking a little worse for wear. But then again stock heatsinks are never too good anyway.

Have you tried using one memory stick at a time in your system to see if there is a faulty stick that is causing the problems?

 

[ToddeSwe]

How come i can't edit my stored message?

Forgott something, how do i remove the old stuff before appying the new one?

ToddeSwe

 

[ToddeSwe]

Yeah that's the CPU heatsink, don't reapply that now that you've removed it, you'll need to clean both the top of the CPU and the heatsink of the old thermal paste with 99.7% ethanol and apply a fresh batch to it.

And yes, it is looking a little worse for wear. But then again stock heatsinks are never too good anyway.

Have you tried using one memory stick at a time in your system to see if there is a faulty stick that is causing the problems?

No i have not tried to remove one of the memory, maybe i will try that to then... I was to shure that it was the heatsink so i forgotten about the rest

ToddeSwe

 

[ToddeSwe]

Yeah that's the CPU heatsink, don't reapply that now that you've removed it, you'll need to clean both the top of the CPU and the heatsink of the old thermal paste with 99.7% ethanol and apply a fresh batch to it.

And yes, it is looking a little worse for wear. But then again stock heatsinks are never too good anyway.

Have you tried using one memory stick at a time in your system to see if there is a faulty stick that is causing the problems?

Me again!

I have now removed and applied the new thermal paste and things are looking good! No freezing in games more!

Thanks you all SO much!!!

ToddeSwe

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Don't ask me what the bluescreens says (it's my sons computer and he restarts VERY fast

1. Turn off AUtorestart
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/automatic-restart-windows-7.htm

A friend told me he think it's the memory on my mobo... is it true? Or what can i do to get to the bottom with this and replace the right hardware?

2. Rum Memtest86+
http://memtest.org/

3. Check Event Viewer for error messages ... search web for answers

4. Upload dmp files to Win 7 forums

http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

 

[xx12amanxx]

Me again!

I have now removed and applied the new thermal paste and things are looking good! No freezing in games more!

Thanks you all SO much!!!

ToddeSwe

Awesome! Have fun man!

 

[ToddeSwe]

please download this

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bluescreenview_setup.exe

run it the files in red are causing the BSOD

post their names here

Thanks, that can come in handy in the future!

ToddeSwe

 

[ToddeSwe]

Don't ask me what the bluescreens says (it's my sons computer and he restarts VERY fast

1. Turn off AUtorestart
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/automatic-restart-windows-7.htm

A friend told me he think it's the memory on my mobo... is it true? Or what can i do to get to the bottom with this and replace the right hardware?

2. Rum Memtest86+
http://memtest.org/

3. Check Event Viewer for error messages ... search web for answers

4. Upload dmp files to Win 7 forums

http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

Wow! NICE to know! Hope i never have to use it!

Thanks!

ToddeSwe